Distinguishing Login Methods

Determine how the user authenticated by inspecting their verified credentials.

A Dynamic user can authenticate through multiple methods — email, social, passkey, or a wallet — and may add more over time. The user object captures every authentication method as a verified credential. This guide shows how to find which method was used most recently and how to inspect each credential’s type.

Finding the most recent login

user.lastVerifiedCredentialId points to the credential the user authenticated with most recently. Look it up in user.verifiedCredentials:

JavaScript

import { getDefaultClient } from '@dynamic-labs-sdk/client';

const { user } = getDefaultClient();
if (!user) return;

const lastCredential = user.verifiedCredentials.find(
  (vc) => vc.id === user.lastVerifiedCredentialId
);

if (lastCredential) {
  console.log('Login format:', lastCredential.format);
  // 'blockchain' | 'email' | 'oauth' | 'passkey' | 'phoneNumber' | 'externalUser' | 'totp'
}

React

import { useUser } from '@dynamic-labs-sdk/react-hooks';

function LastLoginIndicator() {
  const { data: user } = useUser();
  if (!user) return null;

  const lastCredential = user.verifiedCredentials.find(
    (vc) => vc.id === user.lastVerifiedCredentialId
  );

  if (!lastCredential) return <p>No verified credentials</p>;
  return <p>Last login: {lastCredential.format}</p>;
}

Credential formats

The format field on each verified credential identifies the authentication method:

Format	Description
blockchain	Signed in by signing a message with a wallet
email	Email OTP / magic link
oauth	Social provider (Google, Apple, Discord, …)
passkey	WebAuthn / passkey
phoneNumber	SMS OTP
totp	TOTP authenticator (typically MFA)
externalUser	Sign-in via external JWT

Wallet credentials

For format === 'blockchain', walletProvider describes the wallet kind:

walletProvider	Description
browserExtension	Extension wallet (MetaMask, Phantom, etc.)
embeddedWallet	Dynamic embedded MPC wallet
walletConnect	WalletConnect session
qrCode	QR-code-paired wallet
deepLink	Mobile deep-link wallet
custodialService	Custodial service
smartContractWallet	Smart contract wallet (account abstraction)

const wallet = user.verifiedCredentials.find(
  (vc) => vc.format === 'blockchain'
);

if (wallet) {
  console.log('Address:', wallet.address);
  console.log('Chain:', wallet.chain);
  console.log('Wallet provider:', wallet.walletProvider);
}

Social credentials

For format === 'oauth', oauthProvider identifies the social network. See Social Account Linking for the full provider list and management APIs.

import { getUserSocialAccounts } from '@dynamic-labs-sdk/client';

const socials = getUserSocialAccounts();
socials.forEach((account) => {
  console.log(account.provider, account.displayName);
});

getUserSocialAccounts is a typed helper that filters verifiedCredentials to OAuth entries and exposes provider, displayName, emails, photos, and verifiedCredentialId.

Helper: a single login-method label

Map credential formats and wallet providers to a single tag your UI can branch on:

import type { JwtVerifiedCredential } from '@dynamic-labs/sdk-api-core';
import { getDefaultClient } from '@dynamic-labs-sdk/client';

type LoginMethod =
  | 'email'
  | 'phone'
  | 'social'
  | 'passkey'
  | 'browser-wallet'
  | 'embedded-wallet'
  | 'wallet-connect'
  | 'smart-wallet'
  | 'external'
  | 'unknown';

const credentialToMethod = (credential: JwtVerifiedCredential): LoginMethod => {
  switch (credential.format) {
    case 'email':       return 'email';
    case 'phoneNumber': return 'phone';
    case 'oauth':       return 'social';
    case 'passkey':     return 'passkey';
    case 'externalUser':return 'external';
    case 'blockchain':
      switch (credential.walletProvider) {
        case 'embeddedWallet':      return 'embedded-wallet';
        case 'walletConnect':       return 'wallet-connect';
        case 'smartContractWallet': return 'smart-wallet';
        case 'browserExtension':    return 'browser-wallet';
        default:                    return 'browser-wallet';
      }
    default: return 'unknown';
  }
};

export const getLastLoginMethod = (): LoginMethod => {
  const { user } = getDefaultClient();
  const credential = user?.verifiedCredentials.find(
    (vc) => vc.id === user.lastVerifiedCredentialId
  );
  return credential ? credentialToMethod(credential) : 'unknown';
};

In React, drop this in a hook subscribed to userChanged:

import { useUser } from '@dynamic-labs-sdk/react-hooks';
import { getLastLoginMethod } from './loginMethod';

function WelcomeCopy() {
  const { data: user } = useUser();
  if (!user) return null;
  const method = getLastLoginMethod();
  return <p>You signed in with {method}.</p>;
}

Iterating all credentials

To show the user their full authentication history (e.g. an account-security panel), walk the array:

import { useUser } from '@dynamic-labs-sdk/react-hooks';

function CredentialList() {
  const { data: user } = useUser();
  if (!user) return null;

  return (
    <ul>
      {user.verifiedCredentials.map((vc) => (
        <li key={vc.id}>
          <strong>{vc.format}</strong>
          {vc.publicIdentifier && ` — ${vc.publicIdentifier}`}
          {vc.format === 'blockchain' && ` (${vc.walletProvider})`}
          {vc.format === 'oauth' && ` (${vc.oauthProvider})`}
          {vc.id === user.lastVerifiedCredentialId && ' — last used'}
        </li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
}

Related

• Social Account Linking
• Authenticate with Email
• Authenticate with SMS
• Authenticate with Passkey
• External Wallets
• User & Session Management